The edges of the salt marshes in the Gulf of Mexico have been eroding more quickly since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and parts are lost permanently. This is the outcome of research that is published by the American journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and that was carried out by an American-Dutch research team. This erosion is caused by a combination of marsh compaction and acute oil contamination.

It has always been a mystery why seagrasses are the only vascular plants that can survive at the bottom of the sea despite lethal concentrations of sulphides. In a joint study by the University of Groningen, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and the University of Florida researchers have concluded that seagrasses cooperate with small clams and bacteria that live in the sea soil and render sulphides harmless. The results will appear this week in the leading scientific journal Science.

Mussels and Pacific oysters have a significant impact on Wadden Sea biodiversity, not only as food sources, but also because they create a habitat for many other species. In a study, recently published online in the international journal Ecosystems, scientists from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and the University of Groningen (RUG) show that the impact of mussel and oyster beds that are exposed at low tide, may be much greater than their actual size would suggest.

At the 5th International Symposium on Deep-Sea Corals, experts from around the world will discuss the latest scientific insights into cold-water coral reefs. One of the topics for discussion will be the possible consequences of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill two years ago. The conference is organized by NIOZ, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, and it takes place at the Amsterdam zoo Artis from 1 to 6 April.